Wireless communication networks are becoming increasingly common for interconnecting many types of electronic devices. Computer systems of all sizes, personal digital assistants, input/output devices, entertainment system components and other types of home appliances, are all examples of client station devices that are candidates for interconnection using a wireless communication network. Various specific wireless communication protocols have been developed. Examples of existing wireless communication protocols may be found in the family of standards for wireless Local Area Networks (LANs) known as IEEE 802.11, including the 802.11a, 802.11b, and 802.11g wireless communication standards.
Generally, wireless networks include some number of access devices (referred to herein as “access points”) that provide network access to some number of wireless client devices (referred to herein as “stations”). For example, an access point in a wireless network may be connected to a wired communication network, and client stations using the wireless network are provided wireless access to the wired network through the access point.
Existing systems for managing wireless networks have provided inconvenient, overly costly, and/or inadequate tools for determining the physical position of a newly added, or newly operational, access points and/or station. In general, a problem may arise when a new wireless device is added to a managed wireless network without notification of, and/or permission from the manager of that network. The network manager may wish to locate such a “rogue” device, in order to determine if it should be turned-off, disabled, reconfigured, etc. Similarly, the network manager may wish to find the physical location of a previously unknown wireless device that begins operation within the managed wireless network. The operation of such “rogue” devices may compromise the overall security, and/or performance of the wireless network.
In some existing systems, a significant number of “probe” wireless devices must be installed at known positions within the wireless network in order to help a network manager determine the physical locations of all wireless devices. Such probe devices are costly, and the added cost to the overall network costs may be substantial. Moreover, such probe devices are incapable of simultaneously acting as probes and access points or station devices.
For the above reasons and others, it would be desirable to have a new system for determining the physical location of a wireless network device. The new system should be convenient and intuitive for use by a system manager, and not require the use of dedicated probe devices.